Way Huge Pork Loin, Fat Sandwich, and Swollen Pickle Review

Way Huge Swollen Pickle
Jumbo Fuzz MKII
This is it, the one we’ve been waiting for with
bated breath. Out of the original Way Huge
product line, the Swollen Pickle Jumbo Fuzz
certainly garners the most attention. Obviously
inspired by the Electro Harmonix Big Muff Pi,
the Swollen Pickle has been a trade secret
among gearhounds for years. While it’s definitely
in the same vein as the EH fuzz, the voicing of
this device and the reaction of the Tone knob
set it apart. The reissue, dutifully designated
by a “MKII” label, continues the tradition of
the famed fuzz, while adding a few other features
under the hood.

One thing that made the original Swollen
Pickle so unique was the heft that that sound
had. The best way to describe it would be
that the sound pushes a lot of air, but is quite
aggressive. Most Muff-esque pedals have
a huge, thick sound, but are often plagued
with a farty low end and a displeasing upper
frequency range (icepick highs when the tone
control is cranked). The Swollen Pickle MKII
has all of the punch of the original, and a massive
tonal range. With a stock setting (Tone:
12 o’clock, Sustain: 1 o’clock, Volume: 11
o’clock) the pedal immediately sounded fantastic,
with great note separation, clarity, and
a nice even frequency range. There is a very
hi-fi quality to this pedal, but in a surprisingly
musical way.

With an opportunity to improve upon the
original idea, Way Huge has included four
more controls in the circuit: Scoop, Crunch,
two internal controls for adjusting the intensity
of the Scoop control, and one to change
the style of clipping. These additional options
seemed a little overboard at first, but provided
hours of fun.

The Scoop control allows the player to
scoop or boost the midrange frequencies of
the unit, which is highly useful on its own.
Crunch controls how compressed the fuzz
is, which resulted in highly squeezed square
wave-esque sounds to all-out sonic annihilation.
Using these in tandem with the Scoop
intensity control yielded very smooth vintage
tones to razor-sharp modern distortion, and
the clipping type control provided a sucker
punch intensity that just took it completely
over the top. It was actually strange to turn
off the pedal after an hour and play clean; the
tone felt wimpy after being hit in the chest by
this little beast for so long. The pedal can dish
out fantastic, less extravagant traditional fuzz
tones if need be, but it excels at aggressive,
huge sounds.

Construction-wise, the Swollen Pickle is no
slouch either. The enclosure is identical to the
originals: thick, brushed aluminum. The jacks
were solid and the pedal was very quiet with
the Scoop intensity knob at lower settings
(which was very nice). Even the battery compartment,
which is usually an afterthought in
so many pedal designs, is clever—it’s situated
on the front edge of the device and requires
no tools to get to. Why doesn’t every pedal
out there have this as an option? The Way
Huge Swollen Pickle MKII is an extraordinary
fuzz pedal, and certainly lives up to its name.

Buy if...
huge fuzz tones are your thing, and
you want to craft a unique voice with lots of
punch and clarity.Skip if...
you need more subdued, low-key fuzz.Rating...

A native of the Pacific Northwest, Jordan grew up traveling the country as the son of theater technical directors and speech instructors. His exposure to the performing arts early on helped foster his love for music and attention to detail, and upon receiving his first guitar at age 15, he became hooked. Jordan brings a considerable background of gear knowledge and tech experience to Premier Guitar, and has contributed an extensive amount of articles, artist interviews and Rig Rundown videos since late 2008. He lives in the Iowa City area, where he also works to bring music education initiatives to both local and regional communities.

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